Analysis of Leaked Cabinet Papers [Media-watch]

[Media-watch] Analysis of Leaked Cabinet Papers:

"Leaked Cabinet Office papers, September 2004: Evidence of false statements made by Tony Blair to Parliament and the media Summary The Butler Report of July 2004 highlighted substantial omissions of evidence regarding Iraq, but did not argue that positively false information had been given by the Prime Minister to press or Parliament. On 18 September 2004, the Daily Telegraph published extracts from a series of newly leaked documents from the Cabinet Office. With one exception, none of these were quoted in the Butler Report.[1] The full texts of these documents: A) Provide clear evidence that the Prime Minister substantively misled Parliament and press in claiming that: a. his government's objective was disarmament, and not regime change by force; and that b. as late as February 2003, no decision had been taken to invade Iraq. Instead, they show that Blair was fully committed to regime change as early as 8 March 2002, and communicated this position to Bush and his officials. This is substantive evidence of positive falsehood on the part of the Prime Minister, not simply an omission of evidence. B) Demonstrate that a new Security Council Resolution in 2002 and renewed inspections were designed to provide a trigger for war, as part of an explicitly set-out sequence of actions by the US/UK to provide political and legal support for invasion. Claims by the Prime Minister and others that it was only Saddam's unwillingness to cooperate with renewed inspections that led to war were therefore misleading. These policy documents clearly show an intention to use (and arguably abuse) the UN route to provide a legal pretext for pre-decided regime change, not as a route to peaceful disarmament. C) Show that as early as March 2002 the Prime Minister was advised that a. intelligence on Iraqi weapons was 'poor'; b. containment had been 'partially successful', preventing Iraq's resumption of a nuclear programme and r"